Recoil-cushion for gun-carriages



(No Model.)

B HILL. REGOIL CUSHION FOR GUN GARRIAGES.

Patented Mar. 20, 188.8.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EBENEZER HILL, OF SOUTH NORJVALK, CONNECTICUT.

RECOlL-CUSHION FOR GUN-CARRIAGES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 379,783, dated March20, 1888.

' Application filed January 16, 1888. Serial No. 260,891. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, EBENEZER HILL, of South Norwalk, in the county ofFairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement inRecoil-Cushions for Gun Carriages; and I do hereby declare thefollowlng, when taken in connection with accompanying drawing and theletters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, and which said drawlng constitutes part of thisspecification, and represents a longitudinal sectional side view of aguncarriage, the section being centrally through the cushion-cylinder.

This invention relates to an improvement in the cushions which arearranged to resist the recoil of guns in the larger class. Under theusual construction of this class of gun-car rlages a portion of thecarriage is hung upon a pivot at one end and supported upon concentrictracks. This first part of the carriage forms guides upon which thesecond or upper part of the carriage is arranged, and so that the saidsecond part may move toward and from the center of motion of the firstpart,the gun being supported on the said second or upper part of thecarriage. This is a common construction of carriage represented in thedrawing.

A represents the lower portion of the carriage,which is hung upon apivot, a, at one end, and supported on tracks B B, so that it mayoscillate in a horizontal plane with the said pivot a as its center ofmotion. Upon the part B of the carriage the upper or gunsupporting part,C, is arranged, and so asto slide on the carriage toward or from itspivot. The second or upper part, 0, of the carriage carries the gun D,supported thereon by trunnions E, in the usual manner. To resist therecoil in this class of carriages, a cylinder, F, has been arranged onone part-say the part A-of the carriage, with a piston, G, therein, fromwhich a rod, H, extends forward and is secured to the other-say theupperpart, O, of the carriage, the piston and rod being in a planeparallel with the plane of motion of the said second part 0. Thecylinder F,being supplied with compressed air, forms a cushion to aid inresisting the recoil upon the discharge of the gun.

The object of my invention is to increase the power of the cushion; andit consists in combining with the cushion-cylinder a cham her openinginto the said cylinder, adapted to be charged with an explosivematerial, and so that an explosion may be produced, the force of whichwill enter the cylinder to form a resistance or an increased resistancefor the movement of the piston in the cylinder under the recoil action.

The cylinder F is constructed with a cartridgechamber, 1, opening intothe cylinder, the rear or breech end of the chamber being closed by aplug,J. Any breech-closing mechanism may, however, be employed forclosing the breech end of the said chamber.

The breech of the chamber I being opened, a cartridge, K, is introducedtherein and the breech closed. The cylinder is then charged withcompressed air inthe usual manner. As a means for exploding thecartridge, electrical wires 1) (1 connect with the cartridge-chamber, sothat an electric spark may be communicated to the cartridgein thechamber. At the instant of discharging the gun the cartridge K isexploded, delivering its force into the cylinder and against the pistonsimultaneously (or substantially so) with the discharge of the gun. Bythis explosion the pressure in the cylinder becomes instantly increasedto a very great extent, and to that extent the resistingpower of thecushion is increased.

The cartridge may be prepared with varying grades of explosives in acommon and wellknown manner, so as to make the complete explosion of thecartridge K instantaneous or prolonged, as may be desirable.

The recoil-resisting explosion may be produced by applying to thecylinder a chamber, L, with which the tube M, through which aircommunicates, will pass through the said chamber. The chamber L may becharged with suitable hydrocarbon or other suitable material, which theair passing into the cylinder will take up, and so that the cylinderwill be charged with a highly-inflammable gas.

The spark for explosion may be communicated directly to thecylinder,say, by wires, (indicated in broken lines,) and so as to cause the gasto explode. Such explosion of the gas will greatly increase theresisting-power of the cushion.

Both the gas-supply and the cartridge may ward with a greater power thanwould in some be empioyed to good advantage, the cylinder being firstcharged with explosive gas, and then the cartridge, being exploded, willignite the gas; By the combined force of the exploded "gas and cartridgethe resistance is brought to its highest possible limit.

Either the explosive 'cartridge or the explo sive gas may be omitted,the same result being accomplished in either case; buttheresisting-poweris increased by the combined action of the two.

The cushion thus formed and highly compressed under the recoil of thegun-carriage will possess a very strong reactive force, the tendency ofwhich is to force the carriage forcases be desirable. To produce aresistance or cushion for such forward return of the riage, I provide anauxiliary chamber, N, prei erably formed as a part of the cylinder, .andthrough the piston G, I form a small aperture, e, and at the rear end ofthe cylinder I provide a valve, f, which opens from the cylinder intosaid chamber N, and at the opposite end of the cylinder I form a smallaperture, g, which opens into the cylinder on the forward side of thepiston.

Immediately upon explosion in the cylinder, as before described, a smallportion of the gas'will escape from the recoil side of the pistonthrough the passage 6 to the opposite side of the piston, and thevalvefwill open and permit gas to enter and fill the chamber N atsubstantially the same pressure as that of the cylinder, so that theamount of gas is increased by substantially the capacity of the chamberN; but a port-ionof the gas through this chamber N will also escape tothe forward side of the piston through the passage it beingunderstoodthat these passages e g are so small as not to materiallyinterfere with the efficacy of the cushion.

As soon as the recoil of the carriage is arrested and the piston Gstops, the reactive force of the cushion acts upon the piston and servesto throw it, with the carriage it supports, forward with great force;but a cushion has been formed by the gas which has escaped to thereverse side of the piston, to resist to some extent such forward oradvance movement of the piston, so that the carriage will graduallyapproach its forward position or place of rest against the cushionformed on the forward side of the piston. The force on the recoil sidegradually diminishes as the gas expands. Thus the gun-carriage willreturn to its place of rest with easy and graduallydeoreasing movement.

On the return of the piston toward its forward position the valve fcloses and prevents the return of the gas from the chamber N into thecylinder through thevalve. Consequently the expansion of the gas in thechamber N and through the passage g aids in increasing the force of thecushion forward of the piston after recoil.

It will be understood that the auxiliary 1 chamber N may be omitted, asalso the aper-, ture 6 through the piston; but I prefer to pro;

vide some means for utilizing the recoil-cushion as a resistance to thereturn of the carriage.

The auxiliary chamber may be omitted and the aperture through the pistonrelied upon as a means for forming the cushion upon the forward side ofthe piston, or the passage 6 may be omitted entirely, and the chamberwith its passages serve to produce the required cushion upon the forwardside of the piston, it only being essential, so far as this forwardcushion is desirable, that there shall be a passage of small arealeading from the cylinder on the recoil side of the piston to thecylinder on the forward side of the piston.

It is possible that the cushion formed forward of the piston onthe-return of the gun may at times be too stron to permit the gun toreturn to its extreme forward position. To relieve the cushion, andthereby obviate this difficulty, a cock may be provided as an outletforward of the piston-say as indicated at f I claim- 1. A gun-carriageconsisting of two parts, one of which is hung upon a pivot to swing in ahorizontal plane, and which supports the second part, the said secondpart arranged upon said first part free to slide longitudinally thereon,the gun hung upon said second part, an air-cylinder in the one part,with a piston in said cyiinder in connection with the other part to forma recoil-cushion for the gun, and a chamber opening into said cylinderupon the recoil side of the piston, the said chamber adapted to becharged with an explosive material, and provided with means for firingsaid explosive, substantially as and for the purpose described. v

2. A gun-carriage consisting of two parts, one of which is hung upon apivot to swing in a horizontal plane,and which supports the second part,the said second part arranged upon the said first part free to slidelongitudinally thereon, the gun hung upon said second part, anair-cylinder in one-part, with a piston in said cylinder in connectionwith the other part to form a recoii-cushion for the gun, and a chamberopening into said cylinder upon the recoil side of the piston, the saidchamber adapted to be charged withan explosive material, and providedwith means for firing said explosive, the said cylinder also constructedwith an auxiliary chamber, with an opening from the recoil side or" thepiston into said chamber, and also with an aperture opening from saidauxiliary chamber into the cylinder upon the reverse side of the piston,with a valve in the opening on the recoil side of the piston, the saidvalve adapted to open from the cylinder into said auxiliary chamber,substantially as described.

3. A gun-carriage consisting of two parts, one of which is hung upon apivot to swing in a horizontal plane, and which supports the secondpart, the said second part arranged terial, and provided with means forfiring said [0 upon the said first part free to slide1ongitudiexplosive, an aperture or passage of small area nally thereon,the gun hung upon said second from the cylinder on the recoil side ofthe pispart, an air-cylinder in the one part, with a ton to the cylinderforward of the piston, subpiston in said cylinder in connection with thestantially as and for the purpose described.

other part to form a recoi1-oushion for the gun, EBENEZER HILL. and achamber opening into said cylinder upon Witnesses:

the recoil side of the piston, the said chamber JOHN P. TREADWELL,

adapted to be charged with an explosive ma- H. P. PRICE.

